


Maelstrom

by GoodWitchesOfOz



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: AU, Family, Magic, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-02-08 07:32:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12859797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodWitchesOfOz/pseuds/GoodWitchesOfOz
Summary: Elsa forcibly separates herself from Anna out of love. Can the sisters close the rift between them to build something greater, or will Anna's attempts to get her sister to open up prove futile? What if Anna tries something drastic?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, all. This is my first story on AO3. I hope you enjoy. This is set in the original Frozen universe, but with a different, and much shorter, plot.

_Knock knock._ "Elsa?" Anna is seven years old and restless, roaming the halls for hours on end. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

No answer. There never is anymore, not since their last snowman Olaf was built. The sisters used to be inseparable, playing in the snow and sharing jokes and secrets. But now...

"It doesn't have to be a snowman," Anna wheedles through the keyhole. Why won't Elsa talk to her?

"Go away, Anna," her sister snaps. Anna supposes she got her wish.

"Okay, bye." Another day of locked doors and empty castles. Sure it's routine, but Anna can't keep the disappointment out of her voice. Elsa is so frosty and boring just sitting in her room all the time.

* * *

Every day Anna knocks on her sister's thick oaken door. Every time, she is rejected. And every day, the door is exactly the same: smooth and unyielding, purple flowers stenciled on a white background. Beautiful, elegant—but also cold and distant, with no reason to be locked up all the time. Just like Elsa herself.

* * *

Anna only sees her sister at mealtimes really. Their parents tread carefully at the table, asking Anna questions about her daily frolics around the castle: her latest run-in with a grumpy servant, the sixth time she crashed her bike into the same suit of armor, the one time Anna tried to help with dinner and nearly burned the kitchen to ashes. They never ask Elsa why she never talks to Anna anymore, no matter how much they sense that Anna wants to know. Her father in particular only glances at Elsa once in a while, a near-permanent crease in his brow.

Elsa herself just pokes at her food, all sullen and quiet. And she always wears those stupid blue gloves. One day, Anna asks her about it.

"Elsa?"

The blonde’s eyes lift from her food. Something in Elsa’s expression—a soft hunger, like she’s drinking in the sight of her hyperactive sister—sends a chill across Anna’s skin.

"Elsa, why do you wear those gloves all the time?"

The blonde stares back at her plate. "I just do."

"That's not an answer," Anna replies with a huff.

"Yeah it is."

"No, it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"No, that's not an answer, Elsa!"

"Anna, shut up." Are those tears in Elsa's eyes?

It would have been worse if her sister had yelled. Yelling Anna could handle, having been scolded by countless servants for her rather creative ways of alleviating boredom. But this quiet slap is almost too much for Anna. The redhead's eyes sting.

"Why do you hate me?"

Elsa buries her head in her arms and doesn't reply. Their father flashes Anna a warning look and opens his mouth, but Anna beats him to it.

"Why don't you ever come out and build a snowman with me?"

Elsa flinches and stands abruptly from the table. So does Anna, fists clenched. As Elsa starts to run from the room, their mother blocks her path.

"Elsa," her mother says gently, "calm down, love." She moves to hug the blonde, who automatically recoils.

"Don't touch me!" A frigid wind whips at Anna's braids. "I'm dangerous! Leave me alone!"

Elsa pushes past her mother. Anna hears frantic footsteps ascending the stairs, and the slam of a door. Anna turns around and gasps.

A thick layer of patterned frost covers the walls, spiraling into the hallway. Snow starts to fall as a layer of ice thickens under Anna's feet. Wind lashes her face. The younger girl backs up and runs from her father's anger and her mother's helpless sorrow. She makes it only to the Great Hall before she slips; Anna's arms flap uselessly as the ice rises to meet her.

A cold wind pushes her upright. Anna wobbles over to the banister—and there is Elsa at the top of the stairs, a blue light floating above her gloved hand. A second later the ice vanishes from under Anna’s feet. Her big sister turns and runs down the hallway, slamming her bedroom door shut.

Anna can only stare. Did Elsa just blow wind at her sister? What was that light, and how did it control the ice? Where did the frost and all the snow come from? What is going on?

Later that afternoon, Anna tries to ask her parents about what happened. Her mother claims a door was open somewhere in the castle, and that Elsa had nothing to do with the storm at the dining table. Her father just yells at Anna to forget the incident, which of course makes the redhead all the more determined to figure out her mysterious sister.

* * *

Six years pass. Anna, with her seemingly endless energy, befriends one of the maids, a demure brunette named Livia. Livia goes along with Anna's schemes and methods of amusement, but Anna can't share anything with her since all the servants ultimately report to the King and Queen. Once Anna realizes this, she starts to spend less and less time with her. What good is a friend if you can't share the things with them that are the most important to you?

Anna sees Elsa only at mealtimes, tutoring, and occasionally while wandering around the castle. She learns that the favorite haunt of the morose blonde is an old bench near one of the fountains, the one next to the water lilies. The older girl sits there for hours on end, occasionally running around in circles for no apparent reason. Anna likes to leave little presents and notes there, asking Elsa to talk with her or teach her something new—to do anything but avoid Anna, with the flashes of platinum blonde in her peripheral vision or the partly-imagined temperature drops that Anna becomes so accustomed to.

On occasion the older girl scribbles a reply to Anna’s message, with an invitation to chat about nothing or to walk around the garden. These meetings are short and increasingly awkward as Anna becomes more and more adept at hiding her feelings from the Ice Queen, as the redhead silently starts to call Elsa.

Once in a while, Anna springs onto the girl the question of Elsa's seemingly magical control over wintry elements. The Ice Queen is rarely caught off guard, remaining tight-lipped and infuriating. If anything, since the dinner incident six years ago Elsa seems determined to tell Anna as little about herself as humanly possible while offering a pretense of sisterly love. Anna often catches Elsa gazing at the younger girl, longing and hurting. Yet as soon as Anna makes eye contact, the blonde's frosty exterior returns.

"What are you so afraid of?" Anna one day demands of her sister after a particularly taxing tutoring lesson on the politics of agriculture. "I get that you can control snow and all, but how is that scary?"

Her sister flinches, her grip on her mask of indifference floundering. Is that pain in her eyes? Elsa opens her mouth, shuts it, and sweeps out of the room.

* * *

After a month or so, Anna ceases her handwritten notes and stops searching for her older sister. Once the redhead stops writing the messages, she sees less and less of Elsa. It becomes normal not to see the blonde at all, even during meals and tutoring, for Elsa stays locked in her room for most of the time. Anna wanders aimlessly around the castle. When the sisters do catch sight of each other, they both carefully look away. Anna's father spends more time locked in his study, claiming he's doing paperwork; the Queen throws herself into the job of running the castle.

Anna must have done something to tear the family apart, that much is certain. But lying on her bed at night, the restless younger sister cannot puzzle any of it out: her father's whispered, harried meetings with Elsa; her mother's insisting on the girls' educations to prepare for the outside world while ensuring the gates remain closed; her sister's impenetrable walls. Her only clue is that incident at dinner six years ago, when the Ice Queen froze the dining room in a panic and saved Anna from knocking herself out on ice. Elsa will tell Anna nothing, but seems to confide in their parents. What did Anna do to hurt her?

* * *

It's been a few years since Anna broke off contact with her servant-friends; only the tutors, the cook, Livia the maid, and occasionally her parents keep the once-exuberant girl company. Anna's daily skips and dashes through the halls deflate to the occasional walk around the castle. The servants begin to gossip, in small huddles after dark, about why the Princess grows duller by the day. The castle is nearly devoid of Anna's laughter, and with its loss a gloom settles over the people inside.

* * *

Anna has not left her room for several days; thinking in circles uses up all her energy. With only the paintings on the walls for company, the redhead decides there is only one way to break Elsa's icy barriers. With the source of her sister's pain gone, perhaps the royal family can rule Arendelle with a loving, steady hand once more.

* * *

_Knock knock._ "Elsa? It's me again." Their daily ritual still continues, spurred on by Anna as a sort of comforting routine. Every day Elsa rejects the redhead. But not today.

Silence behind the door. Is that a book rustling?

"Elsa, I know you don't love me even though you pretend to." Another page turns, more slowly this time. "I get that you're afraid of something. It must be me. You don't run away from our parents like you always avoid me. You don't yell at your parents the way you yell at me. We barely talk to each other anymore. You won't tell me what's wrong, or why a storm in the dining room somehow seemed like it had to do with you." Anna takes a deep breath. "I get that you're afraid of me even though you don't want to be. Since obviously I'm the cause of your suffering, the least I can do to help is… is to remove the cause."

A handsome chair stands a few feet away from Elsa's door, dragged up the stairs with accompanying scrapes and stubbed toes around a half-hour ago. The rafters in this hallway are quite low to the ground, low enough for a certain redhead to be able to stand on a chair and slip a bedsheet around one of the beams. Anna's feet are cold on the wood. Her hands shake slightly as she ties the noose around her neck —a knot she had practiced on suits of armor and smiling dolls when nobody was looking.

"Elsa, I…" the girl's voice cracks. "I love you." A foot dangles off the chair. "I wished you love me, too." Anna closes her eyes and slides her other foot into open air.

A door slams against a wall. "Anna!"

The bedsheet loosens its grip to fall limply around Anna's shoulders. The redhead screams and opens her eyes to see Elsa in the doorway, wind blowing under Anna's feet to keep her from falling farther. The blonde shakes, eyes streaming, face white. Anna turns in midair. A sheet of razor-sharp ice is impaled in the wall, the other half of the sheet clinging to the rafter.

Suddenly the wind stops and Anna collapses on the ground, shivering. Cold arms pull her close.

"Anna! Anna, dear God, no! No…" Elsa cradles her sister in her arms, face buried in Anna's neck. Vaguely Anna registers that the temperature has dropped forty degrees, and there is a full-blown ice storm in the hall.

Her voice is a croak. "Elsa…"

Elsa searches her face; the younger girl is still numb, but Elsa's raw helplessness cuts her anyway. "Anna, why?" The tears on Elsa's regal face freeze where they drip. "Why?"

"You wouldn't have cared about me otherwise." Her sister's eyes widen. "I didn't know how else to make you happy. I… I wanted to take away your pain somehow. I couldn't stand seeing you so angry and frightened..." Anna's voice trails off.

"So you chose to die?" Elsa begins to sob in earnest. "You idiot! How would that make me happy? How would my sister's death comfort me? This is all my fault! I've killed my Anna! It's because of me that you…you tried to…"

The storm whips throughout the castle. Through the howling of the wind Anna hears shrieks of alarm and the staff running towards them. Does everyone in this castle except for Anna know of Elsa's stormy powers?

The redhead's arms are numb from cold, but she wraps them around her sister. Anna tilts Elsa's head up. "It wasn't your fault," the redhead's voice cracks again, "I did this to myself."

Elsa shakes her head. "No, you said you did this for me! This is my doing!" Her usually austere face is frantic. A row of icicles grows from the ceiling.

The question burns on Anna's lips. "Elsa… why are you hiding from me? I know you can do, um… this. Even if you've never quite admitted it." The redhead gestures to their surroundings, which are covered in frost and smoking with cold. "I'm not scared of your, um, magical abilities."

This time, the Ice Queen can't dodge the question. "What are you afraid of, Elsa?"

* * *

Livia slides into the hallway, closely followed by about a dozen staff and armed guards. Anna feels their gazes fixed on the two sisters, huddled in the middle of an ice storm.

So. Her sister's cyrokinetic. And not only is she powerful enough to possibly freeze the entire world, but Elsa can't control her powers. Ever since she nearly killed Anna in an accident when they were young, Elsa hid her powers from Anna to try to keep her little sister safe. But once the blonde's magic froze over the dining room all those years ago, it became even more imperative that Elsa gain control. Her parents urged her to master her powers. By locking herself in her room, Elsa could practice not feeling, trying to reign herself in. Isolation also kept Elsa from hurting Anna ever again. Sure, it hurt to see Anna in pain, but that was a cost Elsa was willing to pay to keep the redhead safe.

Little did Elsa know that she wasn't the only one who could harm Anna.

After Elsa finishes her story, Anna lies limp in her arms for a few moments, ignoring the storm raging through the hall. A question forms in her mind. "Elsa," the redhead whispers into her sister's ear, "if you can't control your magic, how did you save me?"

The girl hesitates, blue eyes far away. "I guess my powers were trying to save you."

"You mean you were trying to save me. The magic just did what you wanted it to do." Anna pauses for a long moment, lips pursed. Suddenly she jerks upright with a gasp, nearly hitting her sister in the head. "It followed your heart. Elsa! What if you have to use love to control your magic?"

The older girl's brow furrows. It reminds Anna of their father. "So what if my magic happened to do what I wanted it to do? I didn't want to freeze the dining hall all those years ago."

Ice needles skin their faces; Elsa presses Anna's face against her skin to protect the redhead, muffling her next words. "Maybe you felt love in the dining hall too. And maybe your love is causing this storm!"

"Or maybe you're crazy, Anna, from reading too many fairytales. I can't control my magic. I can only suppress it."

The younger sister's eyes are pleading. "Then how did we build Olaf—even though we built Olaf, you know, normally. Not with magic or whatever. But you were so happy… You were free. You can be like that again!"

Elsa's breath catches and she shakes her head. But there’s something hopeful in the blonde’s face, and Anna seizes it. The redhead helps Elsa to her feet, holding on to the older girl for traction on the ice. "Go on," Anna whispers, "try it!"

Elsa hesitates and her sister huffs with impatience. "Come on, you can do it." Anna hides her trembling hands behind her back.

Elsa slowly raises her arms. The icicles on the ceiling quiver and begin to retract, shimmering, and suddenly disappear in a shower of snowflakes. She turns to the wall, and, eyes narrowed, dismisses the frost with a wave of her hand. A stamp of her foot and the ice begins to dissipate, swirling and evaporating off the floor. With a final sigh, the ice storm slows down — and then springs back up again in a rage.

"I can't do it," the older girl says. She turns to her sister. "I…" she gestures helplessly to the maelstrom once again enveloping the hallway. "It's too powerful."

"Princess Elsa!" Livia's mouth is agape. She stands at the front of a growing crowd of people. "Control yourself!"

Anna jumps at the sudden intrusion, sliding around on the ice. "Does she know?" Anna whispers. "How many people know?"

"Just a few, basically everyone who is here on a daily basis. The gates are closed to, you know, keep the secret in."

Livia yells again. "Don't feel, Princess Elsa! Calm yourself!"

Even Livia knew. And even Livia told her sister to shut down, to stop feeling anything at all. Hot anger boils in Anna’s stomach, and something in her snaps.

"No!" Livia's eyes snap to Anna, shaking on the ice. "Elsa, look at me." The older girl does, her hands outstretched as if embracing the storm whirling around them. "We know what the key is now."

"That key doesn't work!" The fear in Elsa's voice tears at Anna's heart. "Love works on small things but not on big ones, not on this!" The wind howls in Anna’s ears.

"Elsa, listen to me! You're stronger than this… this storm! You're so powerful that you made the Great Hall snow when you were eight! You can control your magic, Elsa. I know it! Just…picture something you love and channel the feeling!" Anna's eyes water, probably from the wind. "I didn't get it before, but now I do. When you, um, when you saved me," Anna has to scream to be heard, "that's when I knew that you love me. You love me as much as I love you! Which is a lot!"

Something burns in the older girl's eyes. "Anna," Elsa whispers.

The blizzard stops. An eerie silence settles in the hallway, the King and Queen at the end of it. But Elsa has eyes only for her sister.

"Elsa!" As she runs to hug the blonde, Anna slips on the cold tile, taking Elsa down with her. The two tumble to the floor in a heap. "Oh, Elsa, you did it!"

The redhead smiles at the lips on her cheek. "I couldn’t have done it without you," Elsa whispers. "Thank you."

Their parents’ footsteps echo on the cold tile. Anna looks up to see tears streaking the King’s face. She follows his gaze to the noose, chair, and torn sheet, and her blood turns to ice. The Queen, shivering, kneels next to her daughters and demands to know everything.


	2. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the initial story.

Eighteen-year-old Princess Anna shades her eyes from the sun glaring off the icy floor. The redhead pulls on her new skates and somehow skids over to her sister, who is observing the crowd with a radiant smile.

To celebrate the coronation of Queen Elsa of Arendelle, the newly crowned monarch threw a unique party. With a few tosses of magic and a tap of her foot on the ground, the courtyard turned into an ice skating rink complete with frozen fountains. The ordinary people whizzing around the magical playground are proof that the citizens do not fear the mage who is their monarch.

The crown on Elsa’s head flashes gold as she turns towards her sister.

“Hey, Anna.”

“Hey, Elsa.” The Princess looks her sister up and down. “You look gorgeous.”

Her sister’s dress is made of pure ice: gossamer threads of the stuff woven together in a mesh so fine and light that it seemed to be made from a thousand crystals. The intricacy is proof of Elsa’s mastery over her power. Since that fateful day when Elsa stopped her own blizzard, the blonde practiced both making and dismantling her creations. It only took a few weeks before Anna was convinced that her sister was powerful enough to rule the entire world if she wanted to: snow creatures became alive at her touch, blizzards were summoned and dismissed, every source of water in the area bent to her will.

The blue gloves, Elsa explained, were given to her by their father to help suppress the blonde’s magic and emotions simultaneously. Their control ended up being mainly psychological, since Elsa managed to freeze the dining hall with little difficulty while wearing the gloves. And any part of the mage’s body can conduct magic, not just her hands.

Elsa told Anna that she owes her newfound mastery of her magic to the younger girl. When Elsa followed her parents’ advice to not feel anything, the magic she produced was powerful but out of her control: a cold tingling in her body that responded to her suppressed emotions. But with Anna’s suggestion to channel love into her power, things changed. The magic the blonde produced became malleable since it was controlled by conscious manipulation, not by feelings forcibly locked away. According to Elsa, any emotion she is conscious of can be channeled into her work. But love tends to produce the best results.

Elsa likes to claim that she owes her mastery of magic to her little sister. But Anna knows that it’s Elsa’s love, not Anna’s, that allowed the blonde to finally conquer her fear of losing control. All the redhead did was help Elsa to open up.

As Elsa’s mastery flourished, the King and Queen reopened the gates. And the citizens of Arandelle were slowly, gently introduced to the power of their future ruler. Naturally many were fearful at first — some violently so. But the King delivered eloquent, powerful speeches. Anna’s peppy and optimistic attitude during her frequent travels around the kingdom helped turn some citizens. The Queen frequented the library, researching other mages as powerful as Elsa to prove her daughter was not a monster. And dozens of demonstrations by Elsa began to win over the people. Their loyalty was sealed when Elsa fought in a war against the Southern Isles, using her magic to decimate the enemy army. Although some still feared her destructive capabilities, the vast majority of the people that Anna saw in all areas of the kingdom were convinced of Elsa’s good intentions.

The sisters’ relationship was rocky to rebuild at first. What else did either of them expect after over a decade of loneliness and confusion? But Elsa and Anna loved each other deeply, and that bond overcame such obstacles. A mutual fondness of chocolate, snowmen, and mischief helped too. And as the two became closer, the kingdom itself seemed happier to have the girls run around the castle laughing and plotting. Just like old times.

An elegant hand waves in front of her face. “Hey Anna, Earth to Anna.” Elsa’s beautiful face comes into view. “Are you gonna help me find our parents in this crowd, or what?”

Anna giggles. “I’ll race you! Loser has to buy the winner a big box of chocolate!”

Elsa smirks at her sister. “It’s on.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you enjoy it? Let me know if you'd like me to post the epilogue, too!


End file.
